Zombies seem to be the big thing in Hollywood right now. Even bigger than the much more powerful undead vampires, and so much more popular than mummies that it isn’t even funny. Mostly portrayed as shuffling hordes in various stages of rot, they overwhelm by weight of numbers. Most can be taken out by a head shot that destroys the brain, though in the Return of the Living Dead series even this will not stop them. Zombies used to be portrayed as the result of some supernatural power, raised from the dead by a priest or witch doctor and set on their enemies. Now they are mostly portrayed as the result of a virus or some scientific experiment gone bad. I will get into the fallacies of this chain of reasoning in a moment, and tell why I prefer the supernatural explanation.
I personally divide zombies into two categories: the Walking Zombie and the Running Zombie. Walking zombies are more akin to the traditional zombie we all know and love. They walked slowly, or if physically messed up, shuffle or even crawl about. They are easy to avoid as long as you don’t let yourself be bottled up in an area that is difficult to escape. As easy as this sounds, the movie heroes always seem to let this happen. Walking zombies can be easily avoided by walking away from them. Remember the lessons you learned in childhood around the swimming pool. Walk, don’t run, or you might fall down. And if you fall down the walking zombie that was two hundred yards behind you will suddenly tower over you, like they teleported. If you stay out in the open and walk you probably don’t have too much trouble staying away from these disgusting creatures. The only real problem is you have to sleep sometime, while the undead don’t have to. Running zombies, like those in 28 Days Later, are a different proposition entirely. As the name implies, they run, sometimes better and faster than they could while alive. Unless you are also a good runner then trying to get away is not an option. And running also carried with it the risk of falling, and the running zombie teleporting to your location before you can stumble back to your feet. No, the only option with the running zombie is to fortify in some strong position or to fight them. Unfortunately zombies seem to find their way into the strongest of places, somewhat like rats, so eventually they will get in, and you will have to fight them. Good luck.
So, supernatural or scientific explanations? I prefer the supernatural myself, just as for vampires. It is a better explanation as far as I’m concerned, an animating power not of this world that can make dead people, even in skeletal state, move and kill. Of course as it’s supernatural then there is no real need to feed on the living, unless the animating force is just assholish, which it probably is since its making dead people rise. The virus explanation just doesn’t seem to ring true. First off, how can a virus make rotting muscles and joints work, much less work well. The body is deteriorating, and that includes the nervous system. There should be no signals being sent from a rotting brain to rotting muscles through a rotting nervous system. Second is how they are powered. Yeah, I know, they eat people. But they are dead, and that means no metabolism. Their stomachs don’t digest food into sugars, sugars are not used to generate ATP, and there is no breaking of ATP to power muscles. They’re like a dead car that has no motive power. That’s why to me the supernatural approach is the better. They’re still creatures of the imagination, but in a more sensible manner. I use zombies in some of my fantasy novels, which of course always involves some kind of supernatural animating power. I will not use them in science fiction, as there is no scientific or physical explanation for them. I still enjoy watching the old movies and new shows like the Walking Dead, because I can suspend disbelief and enjoy the action. Can’t do that while writing, so I don’t even try.